Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation
Meeting date: Sunday 15th February 2015
Meeting time: 1.00pm GMT
Meeting Chair: Martijn
Present: Alastair, Debbie, Liz, Martijn, Peter, Trish, Elaine (late)
Apologies: Kalen
Absent: Stephen
Meeting opened 1:14pm.
1. Proposals
1.1. Company address. Debbie proposed we switch the Autscape company address
to firstclassvirtualoffice.co.uk at a cost of £100 plus postage for 12
months. See Appendix A for additional note. This has been extensively
discussed on the board list and is urgent for publicity. The board
approved the proposal (6 for).
1.2. Font purchase. The board carried Alastair's proposal to authorise
the Publications & Publicity subcommittee to spend a maximum of
£70 to purchase a license for the 'FF Din Medium' typeface used in
the Autscape logo (6 for).
Peter clarified that there are two types of licenses, one for desktop
use (including embedding in PDF documents) and another for web use.
The value of a license for web use was considered questionable, and
the consensus was to purchase a license for desktop use.
2. Follow-ups
2.1. Annual Report (Debbie)
Debbie reported that the first draft is done and Liz and Stephen are
amending it. Liz informed Martijn that she needs his report so that
she can complete her editing by 17th March.
2.2. Outstanding Minutes (Martijn).
Martijn reported that these are now caught up to date apart from May
2014 awaiting Peter's approval.
2.3. Personal Data Retention Policy (Martijn).
Martijn reported that there has been some discussion on the board list
but no progress. He will make a second draft when time allows.
There was a suggestion that board members should have an email address
on the Autscape server. However, there was concern from more than one
person that this could affect their ability to read the list
regularly. Martijn noted this.
2.4. Guidance for splitting conference organisation from governance (Elaine).
No report. It was suggested sorting out the conference venue has taken
priority over setting up the guidance and when Elaine joined the
meeting later she reported no progress.
2.5. Newsletter (Alastair/Laura).
Alastair reported that we only have two submissions, so Laura has asked
people for more with a closing date of today. Martijn agreed to write
something about himself.
[Elaine joined the meeting at this point.]
3. Role reports
3.1. Chair (Martijn).
Nothing to report.
3.2. Treasurer (Peter).
Peter reported he intends doing accounts in the next week.
3.3. Company Secretary (Debbie).
Debbie reported she is gathering opinions regarding expense claims
when out and about - e.g. on venue visits. Then she intends to write a
proposal.
3.4. Web systems (Martijn).
Martijn reported he has been obsessively working on the website. Much
of it is under-the-hood stuff that can't be seen now but should make
things easier to maintain down the line. He has created a complete,
automatically generated sitemap in more than one style for
accessibility and made colour schemes more consistent. He is also
reorganising the current menu structure to be more logical and to
automatically update. He would appreciate ideas and suggestions.
3.5. Honorary Secretary (Stephen).
No report.
3.6. Programme Coordinator (Kalen).
No report.
3.7. Venue Co-ordinator (Elaine).
Elaine reported she needs to finish the contract. There are some
outstanding queries but she has been in contact with the venue. She
needs to arrange site visits.
There was a discussion about the issues of contract terms and
regarding the advisability of announcing the venue either generally as
provisional or to sc-pub so publicity can be worked on.
The board approved a proposal to provisionally announce the venue
(7 for).
The decision as to who visits the venue was deferred to list.
4. Subcommittee and working group chairs
4.1. Publicity and Publications (Alastair).
Alastair reported that most of this had been discussed earlier
regarding the venue announcement. It's now planned to have transport,
venue and registration info pack material out during or by the end of
registration at the latest. AU advert is due 1st March though if
absolutely necessary we can have an extension.
4.2. Fundraising (Liz).
Nothing to report.
4.3. Purchasing WG (Stephen).
No report.
5. Any Other Business
5.1. Next meeting: Saturday 14th March at 11am.
Closed part of the meeting
6. Role assignments.
6.1. Childcare Coordinator.
The board assigned the role of Childcare Coordinator to Peter (7 for).
6.2. Transport Coordinator.
The board assigned the role of Transport Coordinator to Alastair (8 for).
Meeting closed 3:18pm.
Actions highlighted during the meeting
1.1 Debbie to action change of company address and inform Martijn for web
updates.
1.2 Alastair to purchase font licence (max £70)
2.1 Liz to complete amendments of Annual Report (by 17 March) and ensure
Martijn's report is included.
2.2 Peter to approve May 2014 minutes
2.3 Martijn to make second draft of Personal Date Retention Policy when time
allows.
2.4 Elaine to continue with Guidance for splitting conference organisation
from governance when time allows
2.5 Martijn to write something about himself for newsletter
3.2 Peter to do accounts during next week
3.3 Debbie to write proposal on expense claims for visits
3.4 Martijn to continue improving website
3.7 Elaine to continue to complete contract. Discussion re visit deferred to
list.